Media releases

By Federation University Australia Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Duncan Bentley

In 2022, we have pressed the accelerator on building a strong and sustainable university for Ballarat and all the regions we serve.

We are enriching the student experience, renewing our teaching programs, taking a digital-first approach, making better use of our real estate assets and partnering with industry and government to ensure our research, programs and courses drive economic growth and jobs in our regions.

We have launched a bold new vision to transform campuses across our regions into places that are agile, integrated and responsive to the needs of those we serve. We know that regional universities deliver an additional $1.7 billion in our regional economies. In Ballarat, teaching activity will be clustered at the revitalised SMB Campus, bringing thousands of students into the CBD every day to create a vibrant university town atmosphere to generate new jobs and economic activity. Our 110-hectare campus at Mount Helen will be a place for hands-on practical learning activities, while the Camp Street Campus will be redeveloped as a new cultural, arts, entertainment and business precinct for the whole community to enjoy.

We are engaging widely on this with more than 300 people taking part in the first round of workshops and an online survey about what people want from a university campus in their region, with more than 1,000 individual comments received. Feedback has been positive, with most agreeing our regional campuses should be places for the whole community to meet, share, explore and grow.

Australia’s first renewable energy training tower has been opened at Mount Helen, and we commenced works on the IBM Emerging Technologies Hub at SMB. The Hub will complement our new Federation Business Centre of Excellence, which is on track to be completed in July.

Four new research centres and groups have been launched across our regions – the Centre for New Energy Transition Research, the Collaborative Evaluation and Research Group, the Centre for Smart Analytics, and the Horsham Research Hub as part of the Future Regions Research Centre. These centres are leveraging expertise across Federation to solve industry problems and support economic growth.

Our New Business Accelerator is enabling us to develop new curriculum and learning materials very quickly. This includes micro-credentials and new programs, courses and materials that will be offered through our new Global Professional School and Federation Online launched in March. It will allow us to respond to changing student and industry demand and create new revenue that can be reinvested in our organisation to support our growth.

Our operating structure is being modernised to better respond to employer and innovation demand. We are moving from our six small existing schools to three larger interdisciplinary institutes aligned with our research centres. This will help foster research and innovation partnerships, programs and courses that are co-designed with industry, as well as greater opportunities for students to learn in the workplace and gain industry certifications and skills needed by employers. 

The key to our successes is the strong partnerships we are fostering with industry, government and local communities.

Our renewable energy training tower, for example, would not exist without $1.8 million from our industry partners Vestas, ACCIONA Energia, GPG and Tilt Renewables. Instead, we are on track to start delivering Global Wind Organisation Standard Basic Safety Training and Basic Refresher Training in the middle of the year. By 2023, we will also deliver the globally recognised post-trade turbine technician training course after signing an exclusive agreement with the BZEE Network in Germany.

Federation also continues to benefit from generous funding support from the Victorian Government, with $2.1 million announced in March to upgrade equipment and facilities at Federation TAFE. This includes funding that will allow us to deliver Australia’s first apprenticeship for wind turbine blade technicians. Prospects Restaurant at SMB will be modernised, as will our training kitchens. A new Computer Numerical Control Machine will be purchased for cabinet making students, and new IT infrastructure will support online learning for Certificate III in Carpentry.

Our Centre for New Energy Transition Research (mentioned earlier) was established using $2.4 million from the Federal Government’s Regional Research Collaboration Program. Their research will help to find new and better ways to deliver affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to regional and remote communities.

Over the coming months, we will detail more transformational change, with long-term plans to offer every student an embedded employment experience that supplements and complements their study. Students will benefit from the opportunity to work on real projects, delivering outcomes for industry, government and not-for-profit clients while enhancing employability, work skills and social capital. Industry and employer partners will benefit from students engaging with the latest technology in workplaces and through our learning technologies, including blockchain and secure cloud technology.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused a loss in international student revenue and drop in domestic student enrolments due to online learning fatigue that continues to significantly impact the University’s financial position.

While our 2021 Annual Report shows a small surplus, this was supported by a one-off positive revaluation of the university’s investment holdings. The university does in fact have an underlying deficit.

The improvements we are making in 2022 are part of our plan to be a strong and sustainable university for Ballarat and all the regions we serve.